At the World Conference on Tobacco Control in Dublin at the end of June, it became clear that all over the world the focus is shifting from tobacco control to eliminating tobacco. Constant attempts by the industry to influence policy are the main obstacle.

By Eline Goethals*

Although there have been 300 million fewer smokers worldwide since 2008, the industry is fighting back with new tactics – from new products and infiltration into science to green hypocrisy. The core of successful tobacco control must therefore be the complete exclusion of all possible influence of the tobacco industry on policy.

That was a key message from the World Conference on Tobacco Control (WCTC) held in Dublin from 23 to 25 June. The conference, a continuation of the World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH), attracted more than 1,300 participants from more than a hundred different countries. This edition celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC).

Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin opened the conference with a strong plea against vaping. Martin, who himself has a background in healthcare and was one of the founders of smoke-free spaces in Ireland, called the e-cigarette “the revenge of Big Tobacco” and their “way of getting nicotine back on the agenda”. He called for “the strictest possible measures against vaping”.

WHO report: we are at a crossroads

For the first time, the timing of the WCTC coincided with the launch of the WHO report on tobacco control, which was published on 23 June. This year’s report focuses on the W of MPOWER – ‘Warning of the dangers of tobacco’ – and all measures that protect the public from tobacco through health warnings. MPOWER is the abbreviation used by the World Health Organization (WHO) to classify the recommendations for a comprehensive anti-tobacco policy into six categories.

The WHO states that we are “at a crossroads of what is possible and what is at stake”. The tobacco industry is constantly adapting with new products and old tactics. Since 2008, there have been 300 million fewer smokers worldwide, and three-quarters of the world’s population is protected by at least one MPOWER measure. Nevertheless, one in five adults continues to smoke and 6 percent of children between the ages of 13 and 15 use e-cigarettes.

Elevator pitches: innovative measures worldwide

The highly energetic ‘Forward-looking Measures’ session presented concrete examples of breakthrough measures:

• • Canada introduced Tobacco Cost Recovery from May 1 and is the first to place warnings on individual cigarettes, based on more than 35 studies.
  • Vietnam completely banned e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products in November 2024.
  • Belgium introduced a ban on disposable vapes and nicotine pouches.
  • The Netherlands received recognition for the e-cigarette flavour ban, which came into force on 1 January 2024.
  • New Zealand presented the Indigenous Framework for Love, Justice and Health, and a study on very low nicotine cigarettes.
  • The Maldives showed their tobacco-free generation approach, that comes into force on November 1.
  • Finland is working on extending mandatory plain packaging from cigarettes to nicotine pouches.

A global filter ban was also discussed: banning the production, import, distribution and sale of filtered cigarettes. This was recently also proposed in the global campaign No Plastic Filter. In a poll among participants at the end of this panel session, the ‘tobacco-free generation’ ultimately won as the favourite tobacco endgame strategy.

Industry buys into science

A worrying development received extensive attention during the conference: the tobacco industry is investing massively in science PR, while government investment in scientific research is falling. A separate symposium was devoted to ‘Tobacco industry influence on science’ and how that influence is increasing and becoming increasingly difficult to identify.

For example, participants from Thailand said that the tobacco and alcohol industry is not allowed to finance educational institutions there, but that it is noticed that not every university has these bans. The problem is that the link between specific researchers and industrial funding is difficult to determine. In Japan, it took a whistleblower last year to uncover funding of scientific research by Philip Morris.

French EPR scandal reveals green hypocrisy

In another session, France presented an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system for cleaning up and eliminating cigarette butts in litter. Tobacco companies, however, are now hiding behind the ostensible non-profit organization Alcome, which abuses the imposed responsibility to organize awareness campaigns instead of taking real environmental measures and distributes free ashtrays. This normalizes smoking and places the responsibility for cigarette butt waste on the smoker, instead of on the producers.

Alcome also concluded contracts with municipalities for the ‘Mégothon’, an annual clean-up campaign that is presented as a volunteer initiative, but in reality comes from the tobacco companies. Some municipalities did not know that the tobacco industry is behind it. The French Council of State condemned Alcome last November for these practices.

Broad program with a focus on endgame

The conference offered more than fifty panel sessions spread over three days. The strong focus on the tobacco endgame was striking, with several sessions devoted to the question of how to achieve a tobacco-free world. From AI applications in tobacco control to indigenous approaches to nicotine addiction were reviewed. Other sessions covered how the industry continues to try to appear credible, how policymakers and health advocates can block its tactics, and the role of youth activism in tobacco control.

What this means for the Netherlands

The Netherlands was praised for the measures that have already been introduced here, including the flavour ban for e-cigarettes, but the influence of the tobacco industry on policy, especially in the House of Representatives, is still too great. In December, a tobacco lobbyist was openly texting with a member of parliament during a debate about a Dutch tobacco endgame.

However, an employee of the FCTC secretariat assured during the WCTC that Article 5.3 of the FCTC Convention, which prescribes governments to protect tobacco policy from influence by the tobacco industry, also applies to representatives of the people, no other interpretation is possible. The House of Representatives must therefore draw up rules for this.

As a rule, government officials strictly adhere to the Protocol for dealing with the tobacco industry, which was drawn up in 2016 after Youth Smoking Prevention filed a lawsuit against the state over the application of Article 5.3 FCTC. A situation like the one in France with Alcome will not occur again in the Netherlands, since a cooperation between the government and Japan Tobacco International for making beaches free of cigarette butts was terminated.

Dublin Declaration: five priorities

As tradition would have it, this edition of the WCTC also concluded with a declaration of priorities, signed by those present, calling on governments to:

1. Excise duty increases on all tobacco and nicotine products to reduce affordability
2. Recognition that tobacco industry influence is the biggest barrier to progress in tobacco control
3. Stricter enforcement of advertising bans, including in entertainment and digital media
4. Integrating environmental impacts, from tobacco growing to waste, into tobacco policy
5. Strengthened cooperation with civil society organisations.

*Eline Goethals left the advertising world to participate in the first tobacco control fellowship of the School for Moral Ambition.